I am haunted by the smiling, confident, beautiful face of Monica Loera. Gunned down on Jan. 22 in Austin, TX, she is the first reported murder of a transgender murder in the United States in 2016. (Unfortunately not the first this year around the world as the DallasVoice headline would suggest, as many of our community have become murder victims already in places like Brazil and Argentina.)

With reported transgender murders around the world occurring in excess of 5 a week, it takes effort not to become numb to it. It takes a story a person can connect to. Monica’s picture and my friendship with the person who forwarded the story to me have turned numbness into an aching heart and a sick feeling inside.

To add insult to injury, members of the media used Monica’s birth first name and misgendered her. That stirred up ire in me to go with the other emotions.

The one bit of good news is that the alleged killer was quickly apprehended, and charged with first degree murder. But this happened nine days ago. Where is the outrage over the number of murders? Where is the outrage over this murder? Where is the outrage over the disrespectful reporting and/or the way information was disseminated by the Austin Police?

If you mirror read Monica’s tee shirt in her photo, it states “PAID IN FULL.” When Jesus hung on the cross, His last words (as recorded in John’s Gospel) were “It is finished.” When John wrote that phrase in Koine Greek, he used the word tetelestai. It was the same word that merchants of that day and place would write to indicate that their customer’s bill was “Paid in Full”.

Perhaps this is why I have been so haunted by Monica’s picture. As what may become her final statement to the world, that phrase asks the church, where are you? Why are so many of you consenting to my death? Why are so many of you persecuting me? Why are so many of you betraying me? Why are so many of you silent on my behalf, out of fear or disinterest? Why have so many of you forsaken me?

But to those in the church who have been faithful in this matter, I hear these words: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. – Matthew 25:35-40

For a number of years, and heightened by the film, The Passion of Christ, something has nagged me about the common depictions of the way Christ was treated between the time of his arrest and the crucifixion. Like Lt. Columbo, there was something bothering me.

Having done my share of laundry over the years, I am very aware that blood is one of the hardest stains to remove. (One of the awesome things about God is that, contrary to the blood of people and animals, the blood of Jesus removes all the stains of sin.)

So I was trying to harmonize three things: that the back of Jesus was torn apart over and over by the scourging of Roman soldiers, using whips with sharp objects embedded in them; that sometime after the scourging, they put Jesus’ garments back on him again; that his garments were divided amongst the Roman soldiers. Maybe it is just me, but I would have no interest in a blood-soaked garment that had been pressed against the gory results of the severe scourging of Jesus, as is commonly believed.

What was done physically to Jesus after His arrest? In general:

1) The Jewish leaders order Him to be struck. In various accounts, He is slapped, punched or spit upon. Some of the punches might have swelled and disfigured His face. But it was done by the Jews, not the Roman soldiers.

2) He is led to the judgment hall to be delivered to Pilate.

3) In Luke’s account only, He is sent to Herod because Jesus is from Galilee. The Jewish leaders accompany and accuse Him there. Herod’s soldiers are the ones who mock Him and put the purple robe on Him, not the Roman soldiers. In Luke, when Pilate pronounces final sentence, he releases Barabbas and he sends Jesus to Golgotha with Simon being required to carry the cross.

4) In the other three gospels, it is the Roman soldiers who mock Jesus. But the only physical action taken against Him by them is putting the crown of thorns on His head, spitting on Him and hitting Him with a thin reed (like they were knighting Him).

Specifics of the Gospel accounts:

Matthew and Mark are fairly consistent parallel accounts after He has been tried and convicted by the Jewish council. They bring Him before Pilate. Pilate questions Jesus. He seeks to release Jesus as the prisoner he was accustomed to release at Passover. The crowd asks Barabbas to be released and demand that Jesus be crucified. Pilate scourges Him. Jesus is delivered to the soldiers. The soldiers mock Him, put His own clothes back on Him and lead Him away to Golgotha with Simon carrying the cross.

In Luke, they bring Him before Pilate, who briefly questions Jesus. Pilate then sends Him to Herod. Herod questions Him and He does not answer. Herod’s soldiers mock Him and put the purple robe on Him (but no mention of anything done physically to Jesus by them). He is sent back to Pilate. Twice, Pilate tells the Jewish leaders that he finds no fault in Jesus, but he will chastise Him and let Him go. It is not specifically mentioned that Pilate actually does chastise Him, but it is not out of the question that he actually did it. At the crowd’s insistence, Pilate releases Barabbas and he sends Jesus to Golgotha with Simon being required to carry the cross.

In John, they bring Him before Pilate and Pilate questions Him. Pilate seeks to release Jesus and the crowd demands Barabbas instead. Pilate scourges Jesus. Then the soldiers mock Him. John’s account says that they struck Jesus with their hands. Pilate then presents Jesus to the crowd again and proclaims His innocence. When the crowd calls for Him to be crucified, Pilate tells them that they should do it. The Jews respond that He deserves to die under their law because of His blasphemy, claiming to be the Son of God. Pilate continues to try to negotiate on behalf of Jesus. When the Jews continue to demand the death of Jesus, Pilate sends Him to Golgotha.

The language used to describe the scourging:

Matthew 27:26-27 – Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.

Mark 15:15-16 – And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.

In both passages, the verb for “scourged” is the Greek word “phragelloo.” It is presumed that this is where we get the English word, “flagellate”. These are the only two times that the word is used in the New Testament. In these passages, there is no separate Greek word for “he”. It is assumed from the verb. The verb is in the active voice which means the subject of the sentence did the action. If Pilate had commanded him to be scourged rather than doing it himself, a different voice would have been used.

Luke 23:16 – I will therefore chastise him, and release him.

Luke 23:22-26 – And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will. And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

The two mentions of the verb “chastise” is the translation of the Greek word “paideuo.” While it can be used in cases of scourging, the sense of the word is related to the training or correction of children. It also describes correction by striking another, probably more like our spanking (though not necessarily on the same part of the body). Again there is no separate word for “I” and it is assumed from the verb. And again the verb is in the active voice.

John 19:1-3 – Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.

John used a different Greek word, “mastigoo,” for “scourge”. It is used seven times in the New Testament and translated as scourge every time. But this time, we actually have a subject in the Greek text. This time it directly says that Pilate was the subject of the sentence. It is also in the active voice. Pilate clearly is indicated as the one who did the scourging.

In none of the Gospel accounts is it ever mentioned that the soldiers scourge Jesus.

In one account they punch Him, but never rip His flesh with whips.

After I studied each of the Gospel accounts that described the scourging of Jesus I had three additional insights. The first was fruit from continuing to pray and meditate about the subject. The Holy Spirit laid on my heart that there is a reason why so much attention has been given to the believed brutality of the scourging of Jesus. Satan is subtle and often uses ideas that sound godly to distract believers and seekers from what is important. Among the things that Satan hates and wants to distract us from are the Word of God, the name of Jesus, prayer and the cross.

Lee Strobel wrote about how agonizing it is to be crucified. Not only have nails been pounded into the flesh to attach it to pieces of wood, but hanging there, gravity pulls at your body and begins to tear the nails through the flesh. In homage to Jesus, people have tried to replicate the event, but they aren’t able to last anywhere close to the time that Jesus hung on that tree. And they were in sound and rested condition when they began the attempt. The agony of hanging on the cross was so unlike any before experienced, a new word was invented for it: excruciating.

It was not during His scourging that Jesus said “It is finished” (i.e., paid in full). It was on the cross. Whether a Christian or a seeker, one is well-served by keeping the cross of Calvary in sight, not the scourging.

The second insight came when the phrase came to mind, “by his stripes we are healed”. So I went back to Isaiah 53 and read these familiar words in verses 4 & 5:

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All the punishments that Jesus suffered after his arrest until the tomb are contained in this prophesy. The descriptions in the four Gospel accounts and their slight variations show that all of these were fulfilled: Jesus was buffeted and bruised, He was chastised, He was scourged, and His ultimate wounds came on the cross. It was by these, but especially the ones on the cross, that our healing was complete.

I was lead to look at the Hebrew word that was translated as “stripes” in Isaiah 53:5. There are three variant spellings of the word in English, the most common is “chabbuwrah“. It appears seven times in the Old Testament and is translated as stripes (3 times), and one time apiece as hurt, wounds, blueness and bruise. My Strong’s lists its recognized meanings as bruise, stripe, wound, blow. In other words in this case, stripes is more than just the results of the whip. It encompasses all that the body of Jesus suffered at this time at the hand of man.

The most recent insight occurred as a result of participating in the Ladies Bible Study at my church. We are studying Beth Moore’s teaching: “Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit.” During the week when the lessons were on joy, part of the material was to read Acts 16:16-40, to show that part of the reaction of Paul and his fellow Christian prisoners to their shackles and imprisonment was to rejoice.

Verses 22 & 23 leapt out at me. This topic came back to mind, even though I had not been thinking about it when I had started the lesson.

And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they cast them into prison, commanding the jailor to keep them safely.

Did you see it? The magistrates commanded to beat them. The language is in contrast to all four Gospel accounts about the scourging of Jesus. Why, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit did Matthew, Mark, Luke and John write (and the KJV translators give the translation) that indicates Pilate was the one doing the scourging? But here we clearly see Luke writing that the common practice of superiors commanding subordinates to do the scourging had occurred. Surely there is a reason for the difference. There are no accidents in the word of God.

So the choice is, do we believe the popular account or do we believe the Bible?

God bless you all as we remember the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord,

You have been waiting long enough for me to resolve the apparent contradiction at the end of my last post. I spent more time than usual polishing this series of posts, and the amount of material required me to divide it into more posts than I originally envisioned.

The Lord’s physical encounters between Him and man either greatly diminished or ceased entirely for many centuries after the death of Moses. Perhaps it was because of the Jews frightened reaction not only to the sight of the Lord (Exodus 24, mentioned in my previous post), but also to Moses whose face shone so much after he personally communed with God that he had to put a veil over his face.

But then, we have the writings of the New Testament. Now if we search diligently through these writings, we find two quotes that at first would seem to continue the contradiction. Both are found in John’s Gospel. In John 1:18, he reiterates words similar to what we saw in the Old Testament: “No man hath seen God at any time”. Yet John clearly believed in the deity of Christ and saw Him on a daily basis for a number of years. Why would he say this?

The answer is in a clarification that is made when he quotes Jesus in John 6:46: “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.” Aha, the answer to the apparent contradiction is the Trinity, that God is a triune God, one God in three persons. If and only if the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have existed as one God throughout all time, could Moses report that no man can see God and live, and John report that no man has seen God, and yet both also report that they have seen God. Moses did not specifically know that he saw the Son of God. John did. God reveals his knowledge progressively, building knowledge upon prior knowledge, scripture upon scripture.

Many centuries after Moses, God choose a place and time to lift the veil between Him and the Jews. At the same time, He becomes a light to Gentiles in a way previously unknown. This was done in connection with the numerous sightings of Jesus Christ, the witness of those sightings, and the testimony that He is the Son of God.

Large crowds by the standards of the day (often called multitudes in the Bible) witnessed the teaching and miracles of Jesus. In previous posts, I have talked about Jesus feeding thousands of people on more than one occasion. The number of men was 5,000 on one occasion and 4,000 on another. Women and children were also present, so a number in the vicinity of 10,000 is not out of the question.

Furthermore, Jesus did not stay in one place. He carried His ministry as far north as Sidon in Phoenician Syria (modern day Saida in southern Lebanon) and as far south as most of Judea, including all of the west bank and a few miles east of the Jordan River on the east bank from the modern day Golan Heights to the modern day country of Jordan around the Dead Sea. In addition to Jews, he was seen by Syrians, Phoenicians, Samaritans, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and people from a number of other nearby countries who traveled to and through Jerusalem and vicinity, primarily for trade.

At this time, shepherds were at the low end of the social ladder. It is not likely that they would have left their work to see a newborn baby. Here is the angelic message that drew them.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. – Luke 2:9-14

A few weeks later, Jesus was brought to the temple in Jerusalem in fulfillment of the Law regarding first born sons. Two devout elderly people met Jesus, Mary and Joseph there. Simeon and Anna the prophetess gave testimony that this child was the long-awaited Messiah and redeemer.

Shortly before Joseph was warned in a dream to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt to escape from the desire of King Herod to kill the newborn King, there was another witness: distinguished visitors from the east who brought three gifts to the foretold King of the Jews who had been born in Bethlehem under a particular star. Their witness is not diminished by the fact that we don’t know their exact number or a more specific place of origin.

With the exception of an incident at the temple in Jerusalem when Jesus amazed the elders with His knowledge at age 12, we don’t have any specifics of the life of Jesus from His exile to the start of His ministry at approximately age 30. We can surmise that He was seen by only a small number of people near His home during that time and that there was no mention of His divinity in this period. But then, there began a series of events that catapulted Him from humble obscurity to being seen by many thousands and becoming (as many would agree) the single most influential person to walk the face of the earth.

John the Baptist was the first to give witness to the spiritual identity of Jesus as an adult. This John testified that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and the Son of God. As a result, some of John’s disciples left John and began to follow Jesus. After John baptized Jesus with water and Jesus went into the desert to fast for forty days (and be tempted by the devil), Jesus formally began His ministry: recruiting disciples, teaching throughout Galilee, performing His first miracle (turning water into wine during the wedding feast at Cana) and announcing His ministry (and the beginnings of the fulfillment of prophecy) at His home synagogue in Nazareth.

The following people also saw a physical (as opposed to spiritual) Jesus and bore witness to His deity:

Philip and Nathanael of Bethsaida: In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, starting with verse 43, Jesus called Philip to be His disciple. Philip immediately went out and witnessed to Nathanael about Jesus, saying, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (verse 45) When Nathanael expresses doubt, Philip brings him to Jesus. After a short conversation between Nathanael and Jesus, Nathanael tells Him, “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.” (verse 49)

Simon Peter: In three of the four Gospels, Jesus first asks His disciples who people say that He is. They tell Him the different opinions that they have heard. Then Jesus asks them, who they say that He is. Simon, as usual, is first to reply. In Matthew 16:16, he tells Jesus: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

I once heard an elder in a Protestant church declare that Jesus never said that He is the Son of God. It is a sad commentary to the extent of Bible illiteracy in the church, even extending to some of the leaders. For Jesus testifies to His divinity on a number of occasions. His response to Peter is one of those times: “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” (verse 17)

In the eighth chapter of John’s Gospel (verses 12-58), Jesus has a lengthy discourse with a group of Jews. Among the things He said to them relating to His deity: “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.” (verse 23); “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” (verse 56); “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (verse 58). Throughout this chapter, Jesus is testifying to His origin (from His heavenly Father, not from earth) and that His Father bears witness to Him and honors Him. Finally, He tells them that He not only preceded Abraham, He is the “I am.” This simple phrase has little significance to most people now, but the Jews of His day (and many even today), were quite aware that Jesus was describing Himself by the name that was too holy to even speak, the name by which God revealed Himself to Moses. That the Jews understood His meaning is evidenced by the fact that immediately after He said it, they attempted to stone Him for speaking blasphemy. Unfortunately they failed to understand the most important part: that it was true.

After the arrest of Jesus, both the high priest and Pilate separately ask Jesus if He is either the Son of God or the King of the Jews. In some of the Gospel accounts, His answer could be colloquially translated as, “You said it!” In Mark 14:62, the answer of Jesus is more emphatic: “I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” There’s that simple phrase, “I am”, again. It was upon hearing that answer that the high priest declared that there was no more need of witnesses against Jesus. He deserved death for His blasphemy.

There were two unlikely witnesses to the deity of Jesus during His crucifixion. Two criminals were crucified with Him. At first both mocked Him. But then one repented, and after rebuking the other criminal, the following exchange took place between him and Jesus (Luke 23:42-43): “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

There was also a Roman centurion in charge of the procedure. Having witnessed the manner in which Jesus conducted Himself during that horribly painful means of death (it is where we get the word “excruciating”), seeing to the needs of His mother, showing mercy to the repentant criminal, forgiving those who did this to Him, the centurion declared at the end: “Truly this man was the Son of God.” (Mark 15:39)

I spoke in previous posts about being able to see God through the effects of His actions. There were a series of amazing events that took place on the same day as the crucifixion of Jesus. Any one of them might be considered a coincidence. But all of them together on the same day? There was a solar eclipse for three hours, an earthquake, the veil of the temple before the holy of holies was torn in two and “graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” (Matthew 27:52-53)

There is one final set of witnesses: the empty tomb and those who saw Jesus after His resurrection. We will look at those in my next post. Because they are the most important witnesses of all, they are the ones most often attacked. Therefore, they require special attention. And I will address this in my next post.